Multi-seat vehicles, such as vans, minivans, sport utility vehicles, and the like, typically have middle (second row) and rear (third row) vehicle seat assemblies that are placed rearwardly of the driver's and front passenger's (first row) vehicle seats, and are selectively removable and replaceable through a large rear door. Removal and replacement of these vehicle seat assemblies tends to be somewhat difficult and requires a considerable amount of effort on the part of the user, especially with respect to the middle vehicle seat assembly. In order to reduce the effort required to remove or replace such a vehicle seat assembly, recent vehicle seat systems have resorted to the mounting of front and rear wheel members on the laterally opposed rigid support structures associated with each vehicle seat assembly. Such wheel members make it possible to selectively roll a vehicle seat into a design position within the vehicle, at which design position connecting means on each of the rigid support structures can securely engage anchor members located in respective wells positioned in the floor of the vehicle, thus releasably securingly anchoring the vehicle seat assembly in place within the vehicle.
One prior art wheeled vehicle seat system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,398, issued Dec. 13, 1994, to Aneiros et al., for a VEHICLE SEAT ASSEMBLY WITH RETRACTING LATCH/ENGAGING ROLLER SEAT-TO-FLOOR LOCK, the teachings of which patent are-incorporated herein by reference.
The vehicle seat system taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,398 employs front and rear latch members rotatably mounted one on each support structure of the vehicle seat system. The front and rear latch members are operatively joined together by a connecting rod so as to be concurrently rotatable one with the other in opposite directions by manual operation by an operator of an actuating mechanism projecting rearwardly from the vehicle seat system. Each latch member includes a hook portion and a pair of axially aligned wheel members freely rotatably mounted thereon in offset relation to the hook portion.
In use, when the vehicle seat assembly of Aneiros et al. is being placed into or removed from a vehicle, the actuating mechanism is used to position the latch members such that the wheel members are in operative rolling contact with the vehicle floor, thus permitting the vehicle seat assembly to be rolled into place. Once in place, as determined by the front wheel members engaging respective locating grooves disposed forwardly of each front well, the actuating mechanism is used to rotate the latch members such that the wheel members are lifted from operative rolling contact with the vehicle floor and the hook portions are lowered, presumably into engagement with the respective striker pins, thus securing the vehicle seat assembly within the vehicle.
While wheeled prior art removable vehicle seat systems, such as Aneiros et al., may represent a significant reduction in the amount of effort required to move the vehicle seat assembly within the vehicle after the wheel members have been successfully deployed, the actual energy and manual dexterity required of a user to deploy or retract the wheel members from such deployment is not itself insignificant. Moreover, the complicated latching mechanisms of the prior art devices, including that of Aneiros et al. are themselves prone to mis-engagement during attempted latching to the vehicle, which mis-engagement is dangerous, and therefore, highly undesirable. Also, such complicated connecting mechanisms are liable to become mis-aligned, bent, or generally damaged over time, particularly when the seat assembly is removed from the vehicle, which conditions make engagement with the anchor members on the vehicle even more difficult and prone to mis-engagement during attempted latching to the vehicle. Further, complicated connecting mechanisms are expensive to manufacture, and are less robust than they might otherwise be. Such mechanisms tend also to be unnecessarily heavy, thereby adding to vehicle ineconomy, to the effort required to lift the vehicle seat assembly out of the wells, and to otherwise handle the vehicle seat assembly. Lastly, with wheeled mechanisms according to the prior art, subsequent lifting of the vehicle seat assembly from the wells must be performed without substantial mechanical aid by the person removing the vehicle seat assembly. All of this leaves room for considerable improvement in removable wheeled vehicle seat systems of the prior art.
Another inherent problem with vehicle seat systems employing wheel members that permit ready rolling of vehicle seats into place is that the middle (second row) vehicle seat must typically be installed into the vehicle before the rear (third row) vehicle seat, and must, for this reason, pass over the location of the rear vehicle seat. Accordingly, the middle vehicle seat may drop into place in the rear vehicle seat wells, unless specific accommodation is made to preclude the middle vehicle seat from falling into the rear vehicle seat wells.